


Just Before The Dawn

by ThisNothingInTheMiddle



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Apparently Waynes can only work through their emotions with fist fights, But things are going to get better, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not like. A LOT of comfort., set after the canon death of a major character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 11:56:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18234545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisNothingInTheMiddle/pseuds/ThisNothingInTheMiddle
Summary: During her visit to the graveyard, Cass runs into the someone unexpected. Neither of them are good with words, but they both have things to process.





	Just Before The Dawn

Cass didn’t expect to see anyone at the grave. Since the funeral there’d been less and less visitors to it, until she thought that she was the only one left.

Oracle and Alfred were always busy nowadays. Tim (Robin again now) and Dr Leslie hadn’t been since the ceremony, both moving out of town shortly after it. Even Crystal Brown had stopped visiting, throwing herself into her work. Her daughter would have proud of her, Cass thinks. Cass had considered talking to Crystal… but no. They were living in different worlds. Weren’t they?

So Cass was the only one left. There had been journalists. There had been ‘fans’. There had been conspiracy nuts. Cass had scared them off sometimes, when she visited in costume.

Well, she always visited in costume. And she never took off her mask. Not here. She didn’t know why.

But now they were all gone. No co-workers, no family, no adoring fans. What was Cass?

Cass was deep in thought as she crested the hill. It was a gentle slope down to the grave, and she didn’t expect to see anyone there. But there was.

At first she didn’t recognise him, because he was slumped. Not on purpose, but in defeat. He never did that. Batman always won. That was what he made everyone believe. Was it true?

He was dressed as Bruce Wayne, with several layers of coat to keep away the cold predawn air. He had his back to Cass, and she couldn’t tell if he had heard her. Usually he was hyper-aware of everything around him, but now? She couldn’t be sure.

She had a choice: approach him, join him- or retreat, and escape him. She wasn’t sure. This felt private, both for him and her.

But as she turned, her cape dragged on a leaf. He must have heard that. Anyone would have. She certainly would have. And so Cass joined him at the grave. There was a large wreath of flowers on the grave that hadn’t been there yesterday, so she assumed Batman had brought it. It was all purple and red, and as wide as the tombstone.

There was a silence. Cass looked at Batman. He looked at her, his face giving nothing away.

“Why are you wearing that?” he asked.

Cass shrugged. “Why do you wear _that_?”

Batman looked down at his overcoat, then looked away. His face slipped, just a bit. What had it shown- Pain? Shame? “I don’t know.” Didn’t he?

“I didn’t know… that you visited… her.”

“I don’t. Not before now.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.” Another emotion escaped his face. Loss? Confusion?

Cass balled her hands into fists. “Why don’t you know?”

Batman looked at her strangely. Sadness? Desperation? “Cassandra…”

“Why is she dead? Will that happen to Tim? Will that happen to you?”

“I-”

“You don’t know?!”

His face was despair. Despair because he really didn’t know.

Cass was clenching her fist so hard it began to ache. “Did you hear me? I mean… when I arrived. When I was at the top of the hill. Did you hear me before I came to the grave?”

“No,” said Batman. But he wasn’t Batman. Batman didn’t dress in an overcoat. Batman _knew_ things.

Cass hit him. Just on the arm. He should have blocked it, but he didn’t. He shouldn’t have stepped back due to it, but he did. So Cass hit him again, and again. He didn’t do anything to defend himself. So Cass aimed for something vital, an important part of him, to force him to block her. He did, moving his hand up and catching her, so she started aiming with her other hand. He blocked her the first time, and the second, but not the third.

She ducked out of his grasp and around to his other side. She tried to hit his back, but he turned quickly and stopped her. Good. She hit faster and harder and he stopped the blows from landing. Then she changed her targets and her techniques. He faltered once, but dodged her strike just in time. She read his body and could see, just there, on the horizon of his muscle memory, where she could slip by him. He faltered again, and she hit him. He recovered and blocked her next shot, but not the one after that. She hit him again, and again. She chipped away at his defence until finally she pried open a window over his chest, and she _kicked_.

Bruce Wayne fell back onto the grass.

Cass felt the blood and the adrenaline pumping through her body. She stayed in a fighting stance.

But Bruce didn’t attempt to get up. He coughed. He lay on his back in a graveyard. “I’m sorry,” he said.

Cass didn’t say anything.

“I failed her. No, worse, I- I used her. I used you. I used all of you.”

Cass felt her muscles relax. She pulled off her mask. “I used to think you knew everything.”

“I know. I think… I think I did too. I’m sorry.”

Cass looked at the grave. “She deserves more flowers.”

“I know.”

“She deserves more… people. Mourners. She deserves more friends to… remember her. She deserves to not be dead.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Cass offered her hand to Bruce and he took it, pulling himself up.

They looked together at the tombstone again.

**STEPHANIE CRYSTAL BROWN**  
**BELOVED DAUGHTER**  
**A HERO**

“She was my only friend. And I think… sometimes I was _her_ only friend.”

Bruce nodded. “She… I shouldn’t have… she was… good. Better than… I…”

“Yeah. I know.”

When they left the graveyard together the air was slightly colder, but the sky was starting to lighten.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Instead of doing essay work, I ended up reading fic about Steph. So I decided to get my head in the game, and ended up writing fic about Steph.
> 
> First I wanted to write Cass being sad about Steph. Then I wanted to write Bruce being sad about Steph. And then I thought, Cass would have some serious cognitive dissonance to do with her grief for Steph and her hero-worship of Batman. So I should write about them BOTH being sad about Steph! Genius.
> 
> This is self-indulgent, and not as good as I hope it is, and probably a bit too pretentious (FAR too many 1 or 2 line paragraphs... we get it, she's sad...) BUT whatever. We should write for ourselves, right, and let it be a happy coincidence if others like our work. And I might do a second chapter? Who knows.
> 
> It's a generic title, I know, but I thought it fits. I almost called it 'It's Always Darkest Before The Fist Fight'.


End file.
